1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing for controlling access rights of digital data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an access rights managing system which permits only specific users to access (browse, edit, print, and the like) digital documents, or which has a function of setting a valid period for each digital document and inhibiting access to the digital document after the valid period has expired in order to prevent information leakage has been developed. Such access rights managing system controls access rights based on a policy to be applied to a given document upon creation of a digital document.
As the access rights managing server which has already been released, for example, Adobe® Policy Server (http://www.adobe.co.jp/products/server/policy/main.html) is known. The Policy Server can attain access control of PDF (Portable Document Format) files. However, an application which can set access rights by the Policy Server is Acrobat® alone available from that company.
Information Rights Management (IRM) (http://office.microsoft.com/ja-jp/assistance/HA010397891041.aspx) announced by Microsoft® allows the aforementioned access rights control. However, an application which can set access rights is only an office application available from that company.
That is, in the conventional access rights managing system, an application which can set access rights is limited, and if an information apparatus that the user uses does not install a specific application, desired access rights cannot be set for a digital document.
As an evaluation method of access rights control associated with data, a conditional access permission method is known (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-184264). Also, a distribution method of a policy that describes control to be executed is known (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-166241).
On the other hand, a multi-functional peripheral equipment (to be abbreviated as MFP hereinafter) connected to a public switched telephone network (to be abbreviated as PSTN hereinafter) or a network has a function of receiving digital documents from external information apparatuses via various routes. The MFP has a function of storing the received digital documents of various data formats in an area called a box of its own storage device, or transferring them to other information apparatuses. That is, the digital documents received by the MFP are distributed through network environments. Therefore, when the access rights managing system is introduced in an environment of an office or the like, the MFP which stores the received digital documents in the box or outputs them onto the network environments may become a security hole.